Housing is the one of the basic needs for every human being, with Food, Clothing and Education being the other three. Housing is an important component and a measure of socio–economic status of the people. It is regarded as a critical sector in terms of policy initiatives and interventions. The relevance of housing as a social need has been long recognized, and this has influenced the innovations and inventions made by mankind, since the Stone Ages.

Housing being the one of the essential needs of mankind, the demand for shelter grows in line with the increase in population and the standard of living, hence the need of financing the purchasing of a House came up. The importance of the housing sector can be judged by the fact that we consider house as the best investment and want to invest our hard earned money or saving in a house. The need for Finance to purchase a house brought out specialized Housing Finance Institutions. The Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) as they are called today, have stepped up their lending over the years contributing to the growth of the housing sector. Their strength lies in their skills in lending exclusively for housing sector. Such is the background of GIC Housing Finance Ltd (GICHFL).

GIC Housing Finance Limited, was incorporated as 'GIC Grih Vitta Limited' on 12th December 1989. The name was changed to its present name vide a fresh Certificate of Incorporation issued on 16th November 1993. The Company was formed with the objective of entering in the field of direct lending to individuals and other corporates to accelerate the housing activities in India. The primary business of GICHFL is granting housing loans to individuals and to persons/entities engaged in construction of houses/flats for residential purposes. The Company carried a vision for the future of Housing in India. And it is always believed at GICHFL that its success and growth depends on its principles which are ;

• To be a prominent Corporate Citizen in promoting housing activities through customer friendly finance schemes with in a service oriented atmosphere.
• To consolidate and grow in a competitive environment reflecting the ethical standard of a good corporate citizen.
• To create Wealth and Reward Share holders

The Company was promoted by General Insurance Corporation of India and its erstwhile subsidiaries namely, National Insurance Company Limited, The New India Assurance Company Limited, The Oriental Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited together with UTI, ICICI, IFCI, HDFC and SBI, all of them contributing to the initial share capital.

GICHFL has presence in 27 locations (24 Service centers & 3 Collection centers) across the country for business. It has got a strong marketing team, which is further assisted by Sales Associates(SAs). It has tie-ups with builders to provide finance to individual borrowers. It also has tie-ups with corporates for various housing finance needs.

Major Events in the Company's history

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Mr. Yogesh Lohiya - Chairman: Mr. Yogesh Lohiya is the Chairman cum Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India.

Mr. Yogesh Lohiya is a mechanical engineering graduate and an Associate of the Insurance Institute of India. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in management from the All India Management Association (AIMA).

Mr. Lohiya had a short stint in the manufacturing industry before joining the Insurance Industry as a direct recruit officer in The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. in 1977.

During his stay in Oriental spanning over three decades Mr. Lohiya handled various technical departments including Fire, Engineering, Reinsurance Treaty, Foreign Operation, Marine, Aviation, etc. He also provided his expertise to the company's offices in India and abroad on technical matters.

He has served as member on various professional committees. These include:

• Insurance & Pension Committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry
• Study Group on Insurance of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry
• Chairman of Management Committee of Catastrophe Pool (Developing the Pool in association with G.I.C. under the instruction of IRDA)
• Member of Terrorism Pool
• Member of Sub committee of Tariff Advisory Committee on Engineering & Petrochemical Insurances
  

He is also the Co-chairman of Insurance Committee of Indian Merchants Chamber, Mumbai. Mr. Lohiya is also a visiting faculty at several institutes of higher learning which include:-

• Power Management Institute of NTPC
• National Insurance Academy
• IIT Delhi & Kanpur
• Training Colleges of the public sector general insurance companies
  

A prolific writer, Mr. Lohiya has authored several books on various issues related to the Insurance sector. He has also presented papers on a variety of subjects ranging from Risk Management in Chemical Industry, Customer Service in Insurance Industry and Indian Public Sector - A Success Story in Seminars in India and abroad. Several of these have also been awarded.

Mr. Lohiya prepared a Report on Catastrophe Risk in India for the Ministry of Finance and an Engineering Insurance Manual for The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. The manual was later adopted by Tariff Advisory Committee.

Mr. M. Sivaraman - Managing Director : Shri. M. Sivaraman is BSc (Physics) Graduate from University of Madras. He is also a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Member of the Institute of the Company Secretaries of India and Fellow Member of Insurance institute of India.

He Joined United India Insurance Company Ltd. as 1st level executive in 1978 in Delhi and had worked in Delhi and Chennai in various capacities including Company Secretary and Executive Assistant to CMD in the rank of DGM at Chennai. Prior to deputation to GIC Housing Finance Ltd, Shri M.Sivaraman was Deputy General Manager, in charge of Kerala operations of United India Insurance Ltd..

Mr. B. Chakrabarti: As the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of National Insurance Company Limited, Mr Chakrabarti has been an Additional Director of the Company since 19th January, 2005. He started his career in the year 1974 as a Technical Officer of United India Insurance Company Limited. With a B.Com (Hons) from Calcutta University and a Chartered Accountant’s qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has technical proficiency in general insurance subjects as he joined the industry as a Technical Officer. On successive promotions, he has had marketing and business development profiles, being the heads of divisions and regions in United India Insurance Company Limited. He had a wide exposure in the Management of Investment portfolio in GIC as Assistant General Manager and General Manager. He has headed the personnel and human resources wing in United India Insurance Company Limited as a General Manager. During his tenure as General Manager (Personnel), he galvanized the activities of the Learning Center, M.S.D and H.R.D. He was the Chief Vigilance Officer and had a brief stint in the Marketing and Reinsurance Department in United India Insurance Company Limited.

Mr. M. Ramadoss: As Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Oriental Insurance Company Limited, he has been an Additional Director of the Company w.e.f 10th March, 2005. Mr. Ramadoss is a First Class Commerce Graduate from Madras University and a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is also a Fellow of Insurance Institute of India and an Associate of Chartered Insurance Institute of U. K. He joined the Insurance Industry in 1976 as direct recruit Class I Officer in New India Assurance Company Limited and has worked in various positions. In 2001, he was promoted as General Manager and posted to London branch for 3 years. He returned to India and joined Head Office in mid November 2004. He has a unique experience of having worked in the Insurance Industry in different parts of the country. Besides working in the Insurance Industry, he is also a visiting faculty in National Insurance Academy, Pune. He regularly takes classes in Company Training Colleges. He has also written articles in magazines and he is a member of a Working Group constituted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to finalize Accounting Guidelines for General Insurance Companies.

Mr. Ramasaamy: Mr. Ramasaamy took over charge as a Director of the company on December 26, 2005. He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification, and was recruited as Direct Recruit Officer in 1976 in National Insurance Company Limited and after serving in Investment Department for 9 years was promoted to the cadre of Assistant Manager and posted to Regional Office, Chennai. He was posted as Senior Divisional Officer in Delhi and as Manager in Ludhiana. Subsequently he was posted as Regional Manager at Regional Office Madurai and then as Assistant General Manager at Bangalore office for nearly 2 years. He got promoted as General Manager in 2002 and was allocated the portfolios like Technical Department, Foreign Business, MSD and Grievance Departments

Mr. G. Srinivasan: Chairman cum Managing Director, United India Insurance Company Ltd.
Shri. G. Srinivasan has assumed charge of United India Insurance Company Ltd., Chennai as its Chairman cum Managing director w.e.f. October 18, 2007.

Prior to his appointment he served as Managing director of The New India Assurance Company (TNT) Ltd., Trinidad and Tobago and as General Manger for The New India Assurance Company Ltd.

Shri. G. Srinivasan is a fellow of the Insurance Institute of India and also an ICWA graduate.

Mr. M. K. Tandon: Took over as Director of the Company w.e.f. 2nd September 1999. He is M. Com, LLB, Associate Part I (Insurance Institute of India). He started his career in insurance industry in 1964. He has immense knowledge and experience in insurance industry especially human resources for the past four decades. He was the Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India during the period between the 04th March 1999 to 04th March 2001. He has also discharged his services as the Chairman-Cum-Managing Director of National Insurance Co. Ltd. between 05th March 2001 to 30th September 2001.

Mr. Atul Kumar Rai: Director (IF), Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Banking Division, New Delhi.
Shri Atul Kumar Rai belongs to Indian Economic Service and is B.A. ( hons. ) Economics from University of Delhi and holds postgraduate qualification in Economics from Jawahar Lal Nehru University. Shri Rai has rich experience of over 20 years and held various posts in the Government of India, Including as Director in DDA. He is also presently on the Board of Directors of Vijaya Bank ,IIBI and Haldia Petrochemicals.

Mr. Manu Chadha: has been a Director of the Company since the 29th April 2002. His academic qualifications include B.Com (Hons), FCA, LLB and is a practicing Chartered Accountant since 1979 and is a Senior Partner with M/s. T R Chadha & Co, Chartered Accountants. He is also on the Board of Dena Bank, SBI Mutual Fund and other body corporate. The Government of India has nominated him on the Investor Education and Protection Fund.

Mr. Arun Datta: He has been a Director of the company since October 24, 2005. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering, along with post-graduate degree in Marketing. He has extensive experience in retail and institutional sales, Corporate Business Development, project management and administration. He has been involved in managing large sales organization with responsibility for brand management, distributions networks and logistics. He has also assisted top executive in strategic decision making as well as day-to-day administration.

Mr.M.Ramprasad: M. Ramaprasad is a Post graduate in Statistics from the University of Madras and an Associate of Insurance Institute. He was selected in 1978 as a direct recruit officer of the then General Insurance Corporation of India and was assigned to National Insurance Co. Limited in 1979 after a one-year training programme.

M.Ramaprasad worked in several Branch and Divisional Offices of the Company from 1979 to 1998 at Hyderabad and Chennai. During this period he also served as in-charge of various Divisional Offices in these cities.

From 1998 till 2007, he was posted at the Head Office of the Company and looked after the technical departments of Fire, Engineering, Miscellaneous Insurance and Reinsurance Underwriting. During this period, he also served as a member of Fire and Engineering Technical (Sub) Committees of Tariff Advisory Committee.

On promotion to the cadre of General Manager in April-2007, he was posted to GIC of India as GM. He looks after the portfolios of Reinsurance, Personal, IT, Office Services and Audit. Before joining the insurance industry, Mr. Ramaprasad worked for Bank of India for 3 years.


MANAGEMENT
Mr. M. Sivaraman, CA,CS - Managing Director
Mr. Rajib De, CA - Vice President
Mr. S. Shridharan, CS, CA, ICWAI - Vice President & Company Secretary
Mr. S. Mahishi, BE(CIVIL) - Asst. Vice President
Mr. Mahesh Ghagre, CA - Asst. Vice President
Mrs. Meena Vasudevan, BA - Asst. Vice President
Mr. R. Jayachandran, B.Sc. - Asst. Vice President